Drum rudiments
The 40 drum rudiments: list, sticking, and how to practice them
Drum rudiments are the basic sticking patterns that every groove, fill, and solo is built from. This is the list of the 40 International Drum Rudiments from the Percussive Arts Society, with stickings, plus how to practice them, how to build stamina, and how to get real timing feedback from your Apple Watch. Grab the free PDF for the complete printable chart.
📖 How to read the stickings
R and L are right and left hand strokes. A lowercase l or r is a quiet grace note: one for a flam, two for a drag. A · separates the pattern starting on one hand from the same pattern starting on the other. Roll stickings show the full stroke sequence for the standard open (double-stroke) version. Rudiment names and stickings follow the Percussive Arts Society International Drum Rudiments; for the official notation, visit pas.org/rudiments.
🥁 Roll rudiments (1–15)
The roll family is the foundation of snare technique: single stroke roll, single stroke four, single stroke seven, multiple bounce roll, triple stroke roll, double stroke open roll, and the five, six, seven, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen, fifteen and seventeen stroke rolls. Their stickings are in the free PDF, and the practice and stamina sections below apply to every one of them.
🥁 Diddle rudiments
| # | Rudiment | Sticking |
|---|
| 16 | Single paradiddle | R L R R · L R L L |
| 17 | Double paradiddle | R L R L R R · L R L R L L |
| 18 | Triple paradiddle | R L R L R L R R · L R L R L R L L |
| 19 | Single paradiddle-diddle | R L R R L L · L R L L R R |
🥁 Flam rudiments
| # | Rudiment | Sticking |
|---|
| 20 | Flam | lR · rL |
| 21 | Flam accent | lR L R · rL R L |
| 22 | Flam tap | lR R · rL L |
| 23 | Flamacue | lR L R L lR · rL R L R rL |
| 24 | Flam paradiddle | lR L R R · rL R L L |
| 25 | Single flammed mill | lR R L R · rL L R L |
| 26 | Flam paradiddle-diddle | lR L R R L L · rL R L L R R |
| 27 | Pataflafla | lR L R rL (repeat) |
| 28 | Swiss army triplet | lR R L · rL L R |
| 29 | Inverted flam tap | lR L rL R (repeat) |
| 30 | Flam drag | lR L L R · rL R R L |
🥁 Drag rudiments
| # | Rudiment | Sticking |
|---|
| 31 | Drag (ruff) | llR · rrL |
| 32 | Single drag tap | llR L · rrL R |
| 33 | Double drag tap | llR llR L · rrL rrL R |
| 34 | Lesson 25 | llR L R · rrL R L |
| 35 | Single dragadiddle | R R L R R · L L R L L |
| 36 | Drag paradiddle #1 | R llR L R R · L rrL R L L |
| 37 | Drag paradiddle #2 | R llR llR L R R · L rrL rrL R L L |
| 38 | Single ratamacue | llR L R L · rrL R L R |
| 39 | Double ratamacue | llR llR L R L · rrL rrL R L R |
| 40 | Triple ratamacue | llR llR llR L R L · rrL rrL rrL R L R |
🎯 How to practice rudiments
- Pick two or three per week. Start with the single stroke roll, double stroke roll, single paradiddle and flam, then add one new rudiment at a time.
- Go slow first. Play each one evenly at a tempo you can keep clean, often 60 to 80 BPM.
- Open, closed, open. Build from slow to the fastest tempo you can control, then come back down without losing evenness.
- Match your hands. Same stick height and volume on both, and accent only where the rudiment calls for it.
- Use a metronome. It shows you where you rush and which hand drags.
- Short and daily. Ten to twenty focused minutes beats one long session a week.
- Move them around the kit. Once a rudiment is clean on a pad, play it as a fill, between toms, or as a groove.
💪 How to build stamina
Rudiment stamina is the ability to keep the same evenness for longer, not just to play faster. Build it the way you'd build any endurance: gradually, with rest, and without tension.
A simple 4-week plan
| Week | Work | Rest |
|---|
| 1 | 3 × 1 minute | 1 min between |
| 2 | 3 × 2 minutes | 1 min between |
| 3 | 2 × 4 minutes | 1 to 2 min between |
| 4 | 1 × 8 minutes | Stretch after |
Pick a comfortable tempo (60 to 90 BPM) and keep it fixed for the week. If your timing gets sloppy or your forearms tighten, that's the end of the set: stop, shake out, and try again tomorrow. Only raise the tempo once you can finish the whole week's work evenly.
What actually builds endurance
- Relax. Tension burns out your forearms faster than effort does. Let the stick rebound, and keep your grip loose.
- Stay low. Keep stick heights low and even at first. Bigger strokes get tiring quickly.
- Alternate days. Hard stamina sets one day, easy technique and listening the next.
- Warm up and stretch. A few slow minutes first, and wrists, forearms and shoulders afterwards.
- Stop if it hurts. Muscle fatigue is normal. Sharp pain, numbness or tingling is a reason to stop and rest.
Long, steady rudiment work is also real exercise. See drumming cardio and what tempo to use for turning practice into a workout.
⌚ Practice with DrumPulse
DrumPulse turns your Apple Watch into a timing coach for rudiment practice. It reads the motion of the wrist wearing the watch, so it grades that hand's hits against a metronome and tells you how you actually played.
- Calibrate on your pad. "Hit the pad 8 times" and DrumPulse sets its sensitivity from your real strikes, so it works on a practice pad as well as a kit.
- Use Metronome mode. Set your tempo and subdivision, add the four-beat count-in, and every hit is graded against the click. Turn on click dropout to mute the click for some bars and test whether you hold time on your own.
- Read the recap. You get a groove score from 0 to 100, how many hits were rushing, on time or dragging, and your steadiness (how much your timing scatters).
- Check your touch. Every hit is sorted into ghost, body and accent, which is useful for accented rudiments like paradiddles and flam accents, and accent lag shows whether your hard hits land later than your soft ones.
- Watch your stamina. See your playing time, longest unbroken run, live heart rate and calories, and notice when your timing slips late in a long set.
- Test the other hand. The watch sees only the wrist it's on, so switch wrists to grade your weaker hand. It can't grade a full two-handed sticking pattern.
Each session saves to Apple Health as a workout, so your rudiment practice also counts toward your activity rings.
Get DrumPulse on the App Store → Free rudiments PDF →
Rudiment questions
What are the 40 drum rudiments?
The 40 International Drum Rudiments are the standard list of snare drum rudiments maintained by the Percussive Arts Society (PAS). They are grouped into roll rudiments, diddle rudiments, flam rudiments, and drag rudiments, and include the single stroke roll, double stroke roll, paradiddles, flams, drags, and ratamacues.
What are the 26 standard American drum rudiments?
The 26 Standard American Drum Rudiments are the original list from the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (NARD). The PAS later expanded the list to the 40 International Drum Rudiments, which keep the original core and add more.
Which drum rudiments should a beginner learn first?
Most teachers start with the single stroke roll, the double stroke roll, the single paradiddle, and the flam. Those four cover alternating strokes, doubles, mixed sticking, and grace notes, and they show up constantly in grooves and fills.
How do I practice drum rudiments?
Start slowly with a metronome and play each rudiment evenly. Practice it open to closed to open: begin slow, speed up gradually to your limit, then slow back down. Keep stick heights consistent and relax your grip. Short daily sessions work better than one long one.
How do I build stamina for drum rudiments?
Build it gradually. Pick a comfortable tempo, play a rudiment evenly for a set time, rest, and repeat, adding a little time each week, for example 3 sets of 1 minute, then 3 of 2, then 2 of 4. Stay relaxed, keep your stick heights low, and stop if timing gets sloppy or you feel sharp pain. Only raise the tempo once you can finish the whole workload evenly.
How long should I practice rudiments each day?
Ten to twenty focused minutes a day is enough for most players, and consistency matters more than length. Spend the time on two or three rudiments at a controlled tempo with a metronome.
Can DrumPulse help me practice rudiments?
Yes, for the hand wearing the watch. Put the watch on one wrist, play a rudiment on a pad to a metronome, and DrumPulse grades the timing of that hand's hits and shows whether you rush or drag, plus how even your touch is. It measures one hand, so it cannot grade a full sticking pattern across both hands.
More questions in the FAQ → Tempo for drum cardio →
